My Version of Burned
by verdadero'amor
Summary: 'I couldn't believe she was gone...all my hope and faith was destroyed. It was too late. I realised the truth as my heart shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces' My version of the sequel to Tempted. Re-writing in progress but same URL. Slight OOC and ZxS.
1. MVOB: Prologue

Disclaimer: All original characters from the House of Night books belong to P.C and Kristin Cast but the storyline and new characters belong to myself.

**My Version of Burned**  
Prologue  
_Stark's POV_

I couldn't believe she was gone.

All my hope and faith was destroyed.

She was the reason that I was here; that I was here and that I was good.

After her consort had collapsed, I just felt like my heart had shattered into millions of tiny pieces.

I'd failed her...I shuddered at the thought.

Why had I run away? It was just a stupid little fight and I had left her for that?

No.

I knew why I had left her.

I was scared.

Scared that she didn't love me the way I loved her.

Because I did love her.

Hell, I loved her more than I'd ever loved anyone, now that I thought about it.

But it was too late.

Too late to save the one thing that could of made my life worth living.

No!

I shouldn't have thought like that. She was probably still there, I just had to wake her up.

Yeah, that was it.

I reached down and cupped her pale, blank face.

"Zoey, I..." Suddenly I was too lost for words. But I knew what I was going to do next.

My arms held her securely as I locked my lips with hers. Tears streamed down my face and splashed off her silent features.

It was then that I knew: Zoey was gone.

And she was gone for good.

I held her empty shell tighter by the second, not wanting her life to slip away from her despite the fact that I knew it already had.

"I love you." I breathed into her fragile lips, staring at her unique beauty for the very last time.

"Stark...?"

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**A/N: **_I'M SORRY! I COULDN'T WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW SO I DID IT NOW D: Yeah, so this is my re-doing of the prologue. I didn't change it much because I didn't really think it needed that much changing? I don't know. I hoped you liked it all the same and I have decided that I will update every day up until I get to where I got up to beforehand._

_THIS IS THE RE-EDITING OF MY ORIGINAL BURNED, this is not a violation of copyright despite the fact that some of you might think it is as I've changed my username since the beginning of this story but all the original chapters will be going back up but better._

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Favourite line? /lydia xox


	2. MVOB: Chapter 1

Disclaimer: All original characters from the House of Night books belong to P.C and Kristin Cast but the storyline and new characters belong to myself.

**My Version of Burned**  
Chapter 1  
_Stark's POV_

"Stark...?"

I turned my weeping eyes to look at Zoey, sure that I had imagined her beautiful voice.

But I hadn't.

She was still in the exact same position but the only difference this time was that her beautiful hazel eyes were blinking slowly at me.

"Z-z-zoey?" I stuttered. I had to be dreaming; this couldn't be real. I held her; I had held her in my arms and _felt_ the life slip away from her. This couldn't be happening.

"Wait for me." The corners of her mouth turned up and she closed her eyes once again, except this time she looked at peace with herself.

"Zoey!" I shouted, finally coming to my senses and running towards her. What had I done to deserve this? To deserve having the love of my life die in the first place, let alone her coming back and basically teasing me. Giving me one last look into those gorgeous eyes before she...

"I'm not giving up on you, beautiful." I promised confidently and quietly, sitting crossed legged and pulling her onto my lap to hold her tightly, "Never again. It's you and me against the world baby, no-one else matters; just you and me."

For hours I whispered sweet assurances into her cold ear. I whispered and whispered until every little thing on my mind was out in the open.

By the time I was silent, I was also numb. Closed-off.

I picked up my Zoey and calmly walked to her room in reticence. Once we reached the destination, I laid her on the cotton sheets and knelt besides her bed.

_Help_.

Sending up a pray, a plea to Nyx, I waited. I don't have any idea how long I waited for but it was a lengthy time, I'll tell you that.

Now I knew that I didn't pray nearly as much as I should have but it wasn't until now that I realised how much I had taken for granted. How good my life was, how much goodness my goddess had given me and I hardly thanked her. She brought Zoey into my life and I assumed that she would always be there, Zoey and Nyx, because I had pledged my life to both of them. Nyx was my goddess and Zoey acted like my goddess.

All of a sudden my phone started vibrating noisily in my pocket. Digging it out, I answered the call.

"Hello?" I croaked out, only now realising how badly I felt.

"Stark! Where the hell are you and where is Zoey? Darius and I went back to find you but you weren't there so we called Damien and the twins but you weren't with them either! Where on earth are you?" I winced at the unexpected loudness coming from my phone. I couldn't deal with Aphrodite right now. Zoey was the important one here. This moment, right now, was about her. My Queen.

"Stark? Answer me!" I didn't realise that I hadn't hung up on Aphrodite until her high-pitched screech came through my phone speaker.

"Leave me alone, all of you just leave me alone." I gritted my teeth, "I need to think and I can't do that unless I'm by myself." Lies.

I hung up as the another wet tear slid down my cheek.

Of course I was lying. I couldn't think by myself, I could barely breathe by myself. I needed her. So, so badly.

"Nyx," I murmured, tilting my head slightly upwards and grasping Zoey's hand with mine, "I know I've done a lot of bad things, I know that I don't deserve anything I have and I'm sorry I took it all for granted but answer me something. Why do bad things happen to good people?"

I chuckled painfully at the cliché question.

"Zoey was good, she _is_ good. She's funny, sweet, caring, weird, beautiful, friendly, welcoming and most of all, she loves you. So why can't you save her? You've done it so many times before, just do it once more. For me? For everyone in the world who needs her to help them. If you don't do this then take me instead. Swap our places so that she can save the world and live a full and happy life. Please."

This was one of those times when I seriously wished that begging always worked.

I turned my attention to Zoey and stared longingly at her tattoo-less face which made her look so much younger and unable to cope with all of this than before.

"Zoey, just give me a sign that you're going to be okay. Squeeze my hand? That's not too hard, is it baby? And then you can wake up and I will never ever hurt you again. All you have to do is open those beautiful big eyes and I will be there with you every single step of the way."

I waited.

Nothing,

Days could have gone by during the time I just sat there and held her, but I knew it hadn't been that long. I understood that as each second passed by, more pain filled my emotionless body until I had no concept of time whatsoever.

There was a loud thump on the door and I was no longer alone. All of my, our friends poured into the room and surrounded me, us.

"Is she..."

"Wake up..."

"...you leave us, Z!"

"Zoey?"

"Priestess?"

Damien, Erin, Shaunee, Aphrodite and Darius crowded around the single bed where we were laying and all spoke one at a time.

"She's gone." Aphrodite stated, her face as empty and emotionless as I felt.

"She can't be..." Damien's voice wobbled in the middle of the sentence and he grabbed both of the twin's hands for support.

"She's gone." Darius repeated Aphrodite and sounded just as detached as his girlfriend did, "We should go."

My head buried itself into Zoey's neck as everyone left and I just held her once again. I could hold her for eternity. She was my eternity and I was nothing without her.

She was my everything.

Everything slowly faded away as I fell into a dreamless sleep.

I was numb. Everything was over. I felt...better? I felt better knowing that I wasn't living alone on earth without my reason for existence.

And then I woke up.

Pain re-filled me but not enough for me to actually feel anything.

I wondered how long it would take for me to die if I just laid here. At least I would be with her.

My beauty.

My love.

My goddess.

My Queen.

My Zoey.

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**A/N: **_I know that I was gonna update everyday but the first couple of chapters are quite confusing with the alerts etc. etc. so I obvs uploaded chapter 1 now and then I might update no. 2 just after midnight or tomorrow morning, idk yet._

_My chapter 1 has changed a lot from the original because I got quite a few critical reviews that I didn't make the beginning with Zoey unconscious long enough so I've attempted to make it longer. Do not fret, Zoey is not gonna die cos that would just ruin the entire story and they'd be no point in writing it. This story _is_ a Stark and Zoey love story so it's not gonna be like the original _Burned_ where Zoey is in the Otherworld for the majority of it so I promise you that she will be back soon. I seriously hope you are enjoying the improvements and please, I beg of you, review?_

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Favourite line? /lydia xox


	3. MVOB: Chapter 2

Disclaimer: All original characters from the House of Night books belong to P.C and Kristin Cast but the storyline and new characters belong to myself. The beginning of this chapter also belongs to P.C and Kristin Cast up until when the italics stop.

**My Version of Burned  
**Chapter 2  
_Zoey's POV_

_I breathed a long, contented sigh. Peace...Seriously, I couldn't remember ever feeling so stress-free. Goddess, it was a gorgeous day. The sun was amazing – all golden and glowly in a sky so birthday-cake-icing blue that it should have hurt my eyes. But it didn't._

_Which was kinda weird. Bright sunlight should hurt my eyes._

_Huh._

_Oh, well. Whatever._

_The meadow was totally beautiful. It reminded me of something. I started to try to remember, but decided I didn't want to think that hard. The day was too pretty to think. I just wanted to breathe in the sweet summer air and breathe out all the stupid tension that had been coiled like a slinky inside my body._

_The grass was waving around my legs softly, like delicate feathers._

_Feathers._

_What was it about feathers?_

"_Nope. No thinking." I smiled as my words became visible, creating sparkly purple patterns in the air._

_In front of me was a line of trees that were filled with white flowers that reminded me of snowflakes. The wind brushed gently through their branches, making music on the air that I danced to, skipping and pirouetting through the grove, breathing deeply of the blossoms' sweet scent._

_I wondered for a second where I was, but it didn't seem all that important. Or at least not as important as the peace and the music and the dancing._

_Then I wondered how I'd gotten here. That stopped me. Okay, well, it didn't really stop me. It just slowed me down._

_That's when I heard it. It was a _zing, plop! _sound. It seemed comfortingly familiar, so I followed it through the grove. More blue peeked through the trees, this time it reminded me of topaz or aquamarines. Water._

_With a happy little cry I ran out of the trees to the bank of an amazingly clear lake._

Zing, plop!

_The sound was coming from around a little bend in the lake's shore, so I followed it, humming my favourite song from _Hairspray _softly to myself._

_The dock jutted out onto the lake, perfect for fishing. And, sure enough, there was a guy sitting on the end of the dock, casting out his line with a little _zing _and then a _plop! _as it hit the water._

_It was strange. I didn't know who he was, but suddenly a terrible panic intruded on my wonderful, beautiful day. No! I didn't want to see him! I was shaking my head and starting to back away when I stepped on a twig and the _snap _had him turning around._

_The big smile on this handsome face vanished when he saw me._

"_Zoey!"_

_Heath's voice did it. My memory rushed back. The sadness knocked me to my knees. He was up and running toward me so that he caught me in his arms as I fell._

"_But you don't belong here! You're dead!" I sobbed against his chest._

"_Zo, babe, this is the Otherworld. It's not me who doesn't belong here – it's you."_

_Memory crashed over me, drowning me with despair and darkness and reality as my world shattered, and everything went black._

* * *

"Zo?" Heath's voice broke through my unshakeable barrier of darkness.

"Heath?" I mumbled groggily, reaching up for him from the floor.

"I'm here baby, it's okay, it's all okay..." He soothed me, stroking my hair as my tears splattered down onto his shirt.

"Oh, Heath!" I cried harder, completely drenching him, "This can't be happening! You can't die; I need you so badly!"

"What are you talking about babe? I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere." He reassured me, holding me to his chest as tight as humanly possible.

"But you died, Heath! I saw it..." My voice broke at the end of my sentence as I remembered the amount of pain I had felt in that very second. The pain, anger, sadness, sorrow and guilt.

"I know I died Zoey but I'm okay here. The Otherworld is great!" Heath said as happily as he could manage.

I looked up at him, spotting the worst parts of him which showed his wasn't okay. Completely messed up hair, and not in a good way, dark circles around his eyes, a small stubble around his mouth and dirty clothes. I guess my crying on them didn't really help though.

"Oh yeah, you look _perfect_ Heath." I said as sarcastically as I could manage, looking at him in a _you-can't-fool-me_ kind of way.

"Okay, okay," Heath confessed, smiling his oh-so-cute bad boy smile, "I feel like crap, is that what you want to hear? But I've made my peace with what's happened and I even have a plan."

"A plan?" I sniffed, confused. What kind of plan would get him, us, out of this mess? If he was that good at coming up with plans, I didn't know why he hadn't told me earlier when it actually would have been useful.

"Yeah, a plan. A plan to get us out of here and back to the _normal_ world." He emphasized the word normal.

"What's your plan then?" I snorted unattractively even though I was hoping that this supposed plan actually would work.

"Are you sure you want to know?" He chuckled jokingly, looking at me straight in the eyes,

"No, I just asked for the sake of it." I said sarcastically, whacking him over the head with my hand.

"Ow! Somebody is feeling especially sarcastic today." He complained, rubbing at the spot where I had hit him.

"Sorry," I apologized, smiling sweetly, "Please can you tell me the plan?" I was starting to get seriously impatient.

"Erm, yeah, about that..." He started, shifting me on his lap awkwardly, "I kinda can't tell you..."

I just looked at him. Was he being serious?

"You're joking, right?" I deadpanned, crawling out of his lap and sitting cross-legged in front of him.

"Zoey," All humour left his face as he reached over and took my hand from my lap to hold it, "If this is going to work, I need you to trust me. I will get back somehow, I just need your co-operation with this."

For a few seconds, I just looked at him.

Without Heath, I was nothing, so I guessed that trusting him with this was the best thing I could do if I wanted to get him back.

In a split second decision, I jumped on top of him and started hugging him manically.

"Hey, hey, hey," Heath said curiously between hugs, "I'm not objecting from this but may I ask why you are enjoying yourself so very much?"

"I trust you, Heath. I trust you and I love you and I can't wait for you to come back so we can be together again."

Judging by the tears forming in his eyes, I knew this meant a lot to him. I knew that I had been messing him around a lot with all the other guys in my life and that it wasn't fair to him. He needed to hear that no matter what I had said before, he was mine and I would always be his.

"I'm yours." I whispered before capturing his lips with mine. As expected, he responded very eagerly.

Before we could get too carried away, I suddenly squealed loudly into his mouth. He pulled back slightly and covered his ears while giving me a questioning glance.

"You're going to be alive again!" I giggled happily into his face, feeling slightly giddy with excitement, "Hey, maybe I could throw a welcome back party! Yeah, Damien and the twins and Stark could help me, I mean, it's not like they would find it weird after all the stuff that we've been through. To be honest, it will seem fairly normal to them..."

"Zo, wait up!" Heath cut me off, "There are a few things you need to know about before you go getting ideas. Firstly, I'm not going to be exactly the same as I used to be while I was human, secondly, you won't be able to drink my blood anymore and lastly, if you tell anyone about this who you do not trust with your life, I will die for good. So if I was you, I wouldn't take any chances." His face showed dead seriousness.

"Why can't I tell anyone?" I complained conspicuously – a word I learnt from Damien – not truly upset so giving him playful evils to show it.

"Because you just can't!" Heath growled shakily like he didn't want to tell me the truth. I started to feel slightly upset until he carried on, "Please Zo? Just don't tell anyone." I frowned, annoyed.

"You're so cute when you frown babe." He murmured, smiling at me. I couldn't stay mad at someone who had that adorable grin...

"Whatever." I mumbled, standing up and taking Heath's hand before starting to walk towards a deeper part of the forest which gave me an intriguing feeling.

"No!" Heath said abruptly, standing his ground but still holding my hand so that I went _bang_ to the floor, "You can't go out there!"

"Ow." I whined, getting back up and rubbing my butt. Heath laughed gently at me and pulled me into a hug.

"No, because I should get back to my fishing now and _you_ have to get back to your friends..."

"Fine, but you have to take me here more often." I laughed, winking at him and knowing that he was going to smile my favourite smile of his.

He did and surprisingly, it made me cry thinking about the seriousness of the situation. Thinking about how much I would miss that smile...

A look of horror came across his face before he pulled me into a hug.

"We _will_ see each other again." He reassured me, his voice soft and soothing.

"I know." I said, pulling him in for our last kiss. As much as I wanted to believe he was going to come back, the more I thought about it, the more unrealistic it seemed and this just made me cry harder.

I couldn't live without him. He was my Heath.

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**A/N: **_This chapter was pretty good for length in comparison to the others, almost 2,000 words. I know that the beginning bit was from the original _Tempted_ but I had to use it so that you'd know where I was in writing. Hope you liked it!_

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Favourite line? /lydia xox


	4. MVOB: Chapter 3

Disclaimer: All original characters from the House of Night books belong to P.C and Kristin Cast but the storyline and new characters belong to myself.

**My Version of Burned**  
Chapter 3  
_Zoey's POV_

"Don't forget me, Zo." Heath whispered into our trembling last kiss.

"As if I could." I smiled sadly at him, a single tear sliding down my cheek.

I couldn't believe it. Was this supposed to be how it ended? Was I supposed to say goodbye to Heath, the blonde haired jock, whom I'd loved and who had loved me in return since third grade? Because he was dead and he wasn't going to come back.

Well, was dying because he wasn't officially gone yet.

"I'll love you forever babe, don't forget that either." Heath smiled his cute bad boy smile at me, trying to cheer me up but unfortunately failing.

As if I could forgot that he was the love of my childhood. I was about to answer that of course I wouldn't forget that and that I loved him too, impossibly so, but before I had the chance to, he was already leaving. He was shifting off of the ground and moving further and further away from me.

"Heath, no! Don't go yet!" I sobbed, looking up at him in the sky. He looked like an angel.

"Zo, it's not me whose leaving, it's you." He explained, his voice sounding confident but his eyes filling with tears, "You know that I will always love you, Zoey Redbird. You are the first, last and only girl I have ever loved and that's never going to change.

"I've loved you my entire life. You have been the first thing I thought of every time I woke up and before I went to sleep and every second inbetween them both ever since the first day I saw you. You were even beautiful as a little girl. I've watched you go from adorable to cute to stunning to sexy to beautiful to gorgeous to amazing and that was just in the first day."

Wishing I had a packet of tissues with me, I felt my heart rip in two.

"I can't leave you!" I screamed, collapsing to the floor and wrapping my arms around myself.

"You have to baby, but it's okay. I'll always be with you. In here." He placed his hand over his heart and I mimicked his gesture.

"Every day," I sniffled, "I will think of you every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every..."

"I get it, beautiful." Heath smiled and took my breath away, "I love you."

"I love you too." I whispered into thin air.

He was gone.

My lifeline, my love; gone.

"He was right, Zoeybird." I heard the soothing voice of my goddess, Nyx, through my pain. I smiled through my tears. She always made me smile.

Opening my eyes, I saw her smooth black hair drifting around her shoulders and the sun reflecting off of her pearl-white skin in the bright meadow.

"I-I...don't know. How to, I mean, or even if I want to..." I stuttered to her.

"Patience my child," Nyx soothed, "You will return to your friends...when the time is right..."

When the time was right?

And then, like waking up from a dream, everything disappeared.

The bright green grass, the sunny blue sky, the soothing sound of water flowing, Nyx: it all went.

But instead of waking up in my bedroom with the reassurance that I would always be okay because I had my consort, I woke up in a room full of darkness.

Darkness which shifted uncomfortably around my disorientated figure, making me question whether I was in a room or not at all.

All I knew was that it was dark.

Very, very, very dark.

As if my life couldn't have gotten any worse.

I tried calling for Heath, for anyone, but to no avail.

Far away, I could hear a distant sobbing but I had no idea who it could be.

I tried listening harder but all that happened was a few salty teardrops fell down my face.

My eyes widening in surprise, I realised something.

That wasn't me crying.

I lifted my right hand to my face to feel my sodden cheeks. It was definitely _tears _wet but no water was leaking out of my eyelids.

As I brushed the corners of my eyes, a blinding light came from behind me.

"WHAT THE _BULLPOOPIE_?" I screeched in my normal voice.

"Your non-cussing ceases to amaze me." Aphrodite laughed quietly into the deafening darkness.

"Aphrodite! What are you doing here?" I asked, shocked.

"I was hoping you had an answer to that." Aphrodite responded sounding like she didn't have a care in the world.

"How would I know?" I asked her, confused, "Also, how can you not be panicking about all of this?"

"Well, pretty easily, it is just a dream after all." I froze after hearing the word _dream_.

"A dream?" I asked hopefully, "So Kalona coming back and Heath and Stevie Rae dying, it's all a dream? So when I wake up, Stevie Rae will walk with me to the dining hall and I'll have my bowl of Count Chocula and then when I go to Vamp Sociology, Neferet won't be evil and then I'll go to drama and Prof. Nolan won't be dead and...and..." I babbled on even though I knew the whole concept was ridiculous, it soothed me all the same

"Zoey? Shut up! I need to tell you something." Aphrodite interrupted me quickly before I could get another word in.

"Urm, okay...?" I waited impatiently.

"The thing is, your soul disappeared from your body when Heath died, so your tattoo's disappeared because, you know, they are tattooed into your soul and now everyone thinks you are dead. So you better wake up and let everyone know that you're going to be okay _now_!"

And then, just like Aphrodite had ordered my soul into my body by force, I woke up in the place where Heath had died.

"Stark...?"

My warrior; where was my warrior?

I opened my eyes, searching for my Stark.

And there he was.

My brave, beautiful warrior towering above me with so much adoration in his eyes that he seemed unreal. I knew that as long as I had Stark, I would be okay. I finally felt at piece.

"Z-z-zoey?" His voice was like honey despite the pain which could be heard in it.

_I'll come back for you_.

I smiled peacefully and my eyes fluttered closed.

"Wait for me."

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**A/N: **_I am honestly sorry. I know that I said I would make longer chapters but I seriously don't know how to make them longer without ruining them. I said to myself that I would try to make all of my chapters, with the exception of my prologue, 1,200 or more each so I'm purposely making a long author's note here so I can fulfill my promise even though it's kinda cheating. After I've gone through the Zoey waking up and her and Stark sorting everything out phase, I will probably keep my chapters the same except for a little beta-ing here and there. I hope you are enjoying the changes because I heart you guys!_

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Favourite line? /lydia xox


	5. MVOB: Chapter 4

Disclaimer: All original characters from the House of Night books belong to P.C and Kristin Cast but the storyline and new characters belong to myself.

**My Version of Burned**  
Chapter 4  
_Heath's POV_

"I trust you, Heath. I trust you and I love you and I can't wait for you to come back so we can be together again."

It took everything in me not to cry after Zo said that. She knew that after her leaving to go to the House of Night and telling me that we couldn't be together broke my heart and hearing her tell me now that she loved me. I felt complete for the first time in months.

"I'm yours." She murmured, leaning forward to kiss me. I leant in the rest of the way and kissed her breathlessly.

Just as I was getting into it, Zo made a deafening noise and I automatically protected my ears from the sound. Confused at why she would stop when we had just started, I looked at her in confusion.

"You're going to be alive again!" She laughed, sounding carefree. She looked drunk off the feeling, "Hey, maybe I could throw a welcome back party! Yeah, Damien and the twins and Stark could help me, I mean, it's not like they would find it weird after all the stuff that we've been through. To be honest, it will seem fairly normal to them..."

"Zo, wait up!" I interrupted her, panicking and not knowing how to stop her from telling anyone, "There are a few things you need to know about before you go getting ideas. Firstly, I'm not going to be exactly the same as I used to be while I was human, secondly, you won't be able to drink my blood anymore and lastly, if you tell anyone about this who you do not trust with your life, I will die for good. So if I was you, I wouldn't take any chances."

I tried to look serious to cover up my lies. I didn't want to lie to her...

"Why can't I tell anyone?" She asked suspiciously and I was afraid that my worry showed for a split second but she didn't seem too upset because her eyes still seemed happy.

"Because you just can't!" I choked, not knowing how to explain the truth to her. I really didn't want to hurt her but this was the only way...

"Please Zo? Just don't tell anyone." She frowned at me and I tried a different tactic to distract her.

"You're so cute when you frown babe." I complimented, forcing a smile to hurt my guilt. This was harder than I thought it would be.

"Whatever." She grumbled, getting up and taking me with her. She started walking towards _there_ before I could stop her, making me instantly stop and unfortunately, this resulting in Zo falling to the floor dramatically.

"No!" I ordered like she was a misbehaving dog, "You can't go out there!"

"Ow." She complained, standing back up and soothing her backside. I could have done that for her...okay, so not the time.

I chuckled quietly and pulled my Zoey into an amorous hug.

"No, because I should get back to my fishing now and _you_ have to get back to your friends..." I explained, hoping that she actually could get back otherwise I'd be screwed.

"Fine, but you have to take me here more often." She winked at me and I almost started crying again. I wished hope against hope that she wouldn't have to come back here but it was more than likely that she would. I forced another smile and prayed for the best.

In an instant, tears started pouring out of Zo's eyes and my own eyes widened. Why was she crying?

I pulled her into a hug and rested my chin on her head, that's how tall I was in comparison to her.

"We _will _see each other again." I promised her, not wanting to let go of her but knowing that I had to.

"I know." She whimpered, kissing me one last time. As her tears mingled with mine, I only just realised how big of a deal this was. But it was too late to change my mind.

"Don't forget me, Zo." I begged, pressing my lips harder against hers. The pain was unbearable and for once, kissing her didn't make it better.

"As if I could." She sobbed, trying to smile at me to show she was okay. That single, wet tear running down her cheek gave her away.

I didn't know how to say goodbye to her. Ever since I'd known her, it was always her to say goodbye to me, I never wanted to. She was the love of my life and even if she had all these other guys, I would never stop loving her. I'd love her forever.

"I'll love you forever babe, don't forget that either." I repeated my thoughts and gave her one last sad, pathetic smile.

"Heath, no! Don't go yet!" She cried as I looked down on her. She was slipping away from me and as she got further and further away, I knew that I would do all that it took to keep her safe. To protect her.

"Zo, it's not me whose leaving, it's you." I explained, trying hard not to cry for her sake, "You know that I will always love you, Zoey Redbird. You are the first, last and only girl I have ever loved and that's never going to change.

"I've loved you my entire life. You have been the first thing I thought of every time I woke up and before I went to sleep and every second inbetween them both ever since the first day I saw you. You were even beautiful as a little girl. I've watched you go from adorable to cute to stunning to sexy to beautiful to gorgeous to amazing and that was just in the first day."

It was likely that I was just making her more upset but I couldn't help it. I had to tell her how I felt before it was too late.

"I can't leave you!" She cried, falling to the floor suddenly. I wished with all of my broken heart that I could just hold her one more time, but I knew that if I did, I would never let go. I would hold her forever and ever.

"You have to baby, but it's okay. I'll always be with you. In here." As cheesy as it was, I held my hand over my splintered heart and watched her do the same.

"Every day," She spoke, "I will think of you every second of every minute of every hour of every day of ever..."

_I will too._

"I get it, beautiful." I stopped her before she broke my heart even more than it was, "I love you."

_Walk away._

So I did.

I walked away from the one thing which kept me breathing, the one thing which made me breathless. The girl who had stolen my heart and never given it back.

_I love you too._

A faint promise from her heart to mine was carried across the wind.

And then I was gone.

And so was she.

"Stop feeling so sorry for yourself." Bird dude walked up to me and gave me the stink eye, "You know what will happen if you tell her the truth."

I looked upwards, only now realising that I had collapsed to the floor and was in a puddle of my tears.

Lying to Zoey really wasn't on my list of things to do today but the bird guy, or _Kalona_ or whatever, told me that if I had told her the real truth then that Cherokee woman would be stuck in her soul for eternity. I wasn't even sure how she got there in the first place but what I did know was that I would do anything for her to make her happy. Even lying to her.

"Why can't you talk to Zoey instead of me?" I asked, trying to get out of doing Kalona's work for him.

"A-ya," He corrected me, avoiding the question, "Her name is _A-ya_, she just thinks that her name is Zoey."

"No," I spoke fiercely despite the fact that this guy could kill me, again, in a split second, "Her name is _Zoey_. I've known her since third grade and you've known her for what, a week, and you're already making adjustments to her name. I don't think so."

After my short speech, I cowered back a little bit, afraid of what he was going to do to me. Weirdly, he did nothing other than send a wicked smile in my direction.

"Fine," He agreed calmly, "We shall call her by the name Zoey. I honestly do not care that much about what you call her as long as you visit her in her dreams after this." I suddenly remembered the question he avoided before he corrected me on her name.

"Anyway, you didn't answer me beforehand; why can't you do the dream visiting rather than me?" I wondered accusingly.

"Because," He started motionlessly, "She doesn't trust me. She thinks I put her in danger. But _you_ on the other hand..." He reached out his hand towards me and sighed, "I admire her love for you- it's indescribable. Apart from her warrior, you are the one person she probably trusts the most!" Kalona sighed once again in jealously.

"Wait, her warrior?" I responded, feeling especially stupid.

"Yes, that James Stark who is talented with the bow and arrow. She also used to trust the red vampyre priestess, but they've been having problems recently. I would have probably used one of those children to do this job for me but, well, none of them are dead and here now are they." He smirked at me, reminding me of my death.

I just mumbled a whatever and leant back to lie on the grass.

"I suppose you did well except for when you almost told her the truth at the end. I especially like the way you distracted her from telling her friends by complimenting her looks. This is going to go better than I thought..."

Screwed. That was the definition of my situation right now.

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**A/N: **_I know that I said I was going to update everyday and not twice a day but you have no idea how upset I am right now about something which I don't really want to mention on here and I keep checking my emails every 5 seconds waiting for a review and not getting one which is making me all the more upset so I updated once more today because I just desperately want to get at least 1 review. My old already written A/N: _

_Dum dum dummmm. That's right bro, Heath's in with Kalona. Who knows what will happen...oh yeah, you guys cos this is just a re-editing:') if you are reading this for the first time then, well, good for you and carry on, yeah?;) hope you are liking it!_

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Favourite line? /lydia xox


	6. MVOB: Chapter 5

Disclaimer: All original characters from the House of Night books belong to P.C and Kristin Cast but the storyline and new characters belong to myself.

**My Version of Burned**  
Chapter 5  
_Stark's POV_

"You have to eat something, Warrior." Darius ordered, holding a tray out in front of him with what smelt like chicken soup on it. And a glass of wine and blood of course.

I ignored him as I had been for the past three days. I meant what I said about dying a happy man as long as I was holding my Zoey and by the looks of things, it was going to happen.

"I'm sorry." Darius apologized for goddess knows what. It wasn't his fault that Kalona was a messed up ugly bird creature who ruined my, and Zoey's, life.

He left the room quietly and shut the door behind him. I could faintly make out him and Aphrodite fighting over something. Something which sounded like my health. Aphrodite didn't want to give up on me but Darius knew it was too late. I couldn't go on without Zoey and he understood how that felt.

Time passed, people came, but nothing changed.

I don't know how long it must have been; hours, weeks, months- it was a surprise that I was still breathing all the same.

For the first time in a while, I started to feel something deep inside of me. Not something good, but something, which was a difference from the usual as I had been feeling completely emotionless since _the day_.

Tiredness. That's what the feeling was. An urge to close my eyes, go to sleep and never wake up. It seemed like the best option; better than being alive any longer on this planet.

Squeezing my Queen one last time, I closed my eyes and plummeted into a undisturbed sleep...

~,*-^_MVOB_^-*,~

"Stark! Stark, wake up!"

Cool, soft hands on my face.

Warm breathing down my neck.

Split hair ends tickled my shoulders.

The scent of blood filled the air as I heard blade meet skin.

"Drink." She whispered, pressing her wrist to my mouth.

Automatically, I latched onto the broken skin and started sucking. I could hear faint moaning in the background and kisses being placed down my neck but all I could think about was that heated, liquid blood running down my throat.

Soon after I started, I heard the voice.

_Stark._

_That's right, drink. Get better._

_It's all going to be okay, I'm here; I'm back._

I stopped.

"I'm back." The voice was clearer now but I didn't want to open my eyes. I couldn't open my eyes and realise I dreamt it all.

"Stark, open your eyes. It's me."

_Zoey._

"Zoey?" My voice was weak and raspy.

"Open those beautiful brown eyes for me, my Warrior, I opened mine for you."

_She was here._

"My Zoey." I whispered, screwing my eyes up tightly before opening them.

_Perfection._

"You're here." I sobbed, roughly grabbing her face and connecting my lips with hers.

It didn't matter that I was being rough with her and we both had almost died. She was here. My Zoey was here with me and we were both okay.

She responded as I thought she would by locking her arms around my neck and deepening the kiss.

"I'm here, I'll never leave you again." I stiffened at her words.

_I had left her._

"Stark?" She shook me gently, worry in his eyes, "What's wrong?"

"I left you." I repeated my thoughts. Zoey looked confused.

"What do you mean? You didn't leave me..." It hurt me that she didn't understand and I had to spell it out for her.

"Before Heath died, I...left you," I gritted my teeth and leant away from her grasp, "I should never have left you, I was being selfish. I'm sorry."

Climbing out of the bed, I walked towards the door to leave.

"Stark?" She sounded scared, I could feel that she didn't want me to leave. But I had to.

"Where are you going? It wasn't your fault, Stark! Please, come back!"

I quickly looked back at her and saw pure innocence in her dark eyes.

It made me angrier than upset.

Why wouldn't she just admit that it was my fault instead of putting me through this misery? I deserved to be punished so why wouldn't she let me leave?

Zoey obviously saw my anger, guilt, because she started to get up and run towards me.

Only she didn't.

Because as soon as she had gotten to her two feet, she had collapsed quickly to the floor.

But I still didn't move.

I don't know why I didn't move because I knew that I wouldn't leave her there.

She was my Zoey.

I stared at her in pain, tears beginning to fill my eyes once again.

As I suspected, she was staring right back at me, her eyes starting to overflow with clear, glass tears.

I felt her sadness deep within me and couldn't take it anymore.

Running quickly towards her, the tears which had been threatening to fall finally flowed down my face.

I wasn't selfless enough to leave her: I needed her.

I loved her.

Kneeling down besides her collapsed body, I pulled her onto my lap.

"Oh, Zoey, Zoey, Zoey!" I cried into her soft, dark hair.

Zoey clung to me like only a mother could cling to her newborn baby. Both of her arms wound around my waist and clutched me like she was afraid I would disappear.

"I've already lost Heath, I can't lose you too!" She sobbed into my chest for goddess knows how long.

Once again, it could have been seconds, minutes or maybe even hours.

Hearing all the commotion, Damien, the twins, Aphrodite and Darius came bursting through the door towards us.

"Zoey!" The twins squealed together.

"Z! You're alive!" Damien shouted over the twins' screaming.

"I told you it would all work out!" Aphrodite smiled triumphantly at Darius and he just nodded in agreement before pulling her into his arms.

Ignoring the fact that I was holding her myself, Damien and the twins ran to my Zoey and pulled her out of my arms.

"Oh Zoey! We're so glad you're alive..." Shaunee started.

"...We don't know what we would have done without you!" Erin finished, smiling broadly.

For the first time in days, I felt complete. I felt like everything we going to be okay.

I didn't know whether Zoey wanted to see that everyone was happy with her being alive but what I did know was that she was very stressed and just wanted to be alone.

Wait, not alone...with me?

I loved her.

Smiling Zoey's favourite cocky smile at her, she smiled back sweetly in return, knowing that I knew she wanted to have some Stark-and-Zoey alone time.

"Um, Darius?" Zoey whimpered in a totally fake ill voice. It made me want to laugh so hard that I had to fake cough to cover it up when she turned around and gave me the stink eye.

"Yes, Priestess?" He responded, ignoring my cough and surprisingly not noticing her faked exclamation.

"I feel quite faint so could you all just leave Stark and I alone to rest, please?"

I was 100% sure that by now everyone had realised she was faking, especially since they all stifled laughs quietly. All the same, Darius agreed that she needed some rest therefore left Zoey and I alone and walked off with Aphrodite, Damien and the twins following rapidly behind.

Before I could repeat my thoughts from earlier about my loving Zoey, she had crashed her pale lips into mine and wound her arms around my neck, pulling me closer and closer.

I smiled into the kiss and then playfully picked her up bridal style, unfortunately breaking the kiss, and went to lay her back on the bed.

Zoey's bottom lip jutted out and she whined.

"Evil." She started pouting – cutely, might I add.

I chucked at her, not mockingly, but in a way which showed my adoration for her. In a way which basically said: _awrh, I love you so much and you know what? I want to be with you for the rest of my life._

Cheesy but true, my friends.

"What's the matter m'lady?" I winked at Zoey, making her giggle for a second before she went back to pouting.

"You don't love me; you broke the kiss. You are _mean_." She scowled at me but I knew she didn't mean it.

"You're right! I'm so sorry Priestess, let me make it up to you." I murmured, laying down next to her and leaning in.

"Um, okay!" She said happily, putting her arms around my neck and kissing me quickly.

It was so hard to think that only ten minutes ago, I thought that I was going to die. I thought that my life wasn't worth living if the only person I loved was dead. But she wasn't dead. My true love wasn't dead and I couldn't be more happy about it.

_She might actually love me back._

I pondered the thought happily.

After about half an hour, we both fell asleep in each others arms. But what happened before that, you ask?

"I love you, James Stark."

"I love you more, Zoey Redbird."

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**A/N:** _Yay, anyone? I know a load of you said that I should have made Stark upset for longer and that's what I was originally going to do but it was so happy when they got back together!:') Let me know your thoughts? And thank you to all of you who're supporting me through this._

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Favourite line? /lydia xox


	7. MVOB: Chapter 6

Disclaimer: All original characters from the House of Night books belong to P.C and Kristin Cast but the storyline and new characters belong to myself.

**My Version of Burned**  
Chapter 6  
_Zoey's POV_

"Okay, we'll be over in a minute." I assured Aphrodite on the phone and then waited for her to hang up on me.

If I was honest, I had absolutely no idea what could be so important that she had to wake me up now. She had never needed me _and _Stark at such short notice, especially in the middle of the day – day = night for us – and as well as that, she knew that Stark would most likely be sizzled if he went outside at this time of the day.

I went to sit back down on our bed and starting staring at my Stark; he just looked so peaceful. Softly, I caressed his cheek with my index finger.

"Zhoeyere..." He mumbled in his sleep making me smile lovingly at his cuteness. I stroked his face one last time, expecting him to wake up but when he didn't do what I wanted him to, hell broke loose.

"STARK, WAKE UP!" I shouted into his ear, shoved him noisily onto his side so that he was facing me and then slapped his cheek like a boss.

Not that cheek, you sick-minded people...although I wish it had been...

Okay, so not the time.

"Urghhh!" He replied like a caveman, trying to push me off of my own bed. Instead, I climbed back into it, under the covers, fully dressed, and then wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Nu-uh, you ain't getting rid of me that easily." I whispered into his sore ear and then smiled sweetly at him.

"Whah-evha." He responded, turning around to face away from me.

"Hey!" I gasped, pretending to be hurt by his action, "Don't you like me at all anymore?"

That woke him up.

"I'm sorry, I'm just really tired. Of course I like you," He told me solemnly, turning around to look at me in the eyes, "I love you..."

Grinning at me, I traced his happy lips with my finger before lightly kissing him on the lips. He replied by wrapping his arms around my waist and pressing his body into mine. I might have moaned a little and moved my hands up to his hair to knot my fingers in but then, all of a sudden, he snorted. It would have usually been funny if I hadn't wanted to kiss him some more.

Slightly pulling away, I looked at his face in confusion.

He had fallen asleep on me again. As well as that, he snored. Wow; loving life?

I didn't know what was up with Stark lately. The night before, we were all over each other and then, just like now, he fell asleep on me. The same thing happened again about half-way through the night. It was like doing what we were made him tired.

Oh hell, maybe he was tired of me but didn't want to offend me by letting me know after my near-death experience? That would majorly suck and not just waking up in the morning with nappy hair suck.

I tried to distract my mind from the thoughts I started having as I wondered over to my private bathroom. Despite all of the mess that was going on, I had to admit that my luxury shower did make it much better. There were no words to describe how amazing it was.

After a long, and very much needed, soak, I gave up on trying to get Stark up and made my way over to Aphrodite's room.

And the entire way there, I couldn't help but think of the worst possibilities for why she would need both of us there that very second.

* * *

**A/N:** _I know that this chapter is unusually short but that's only because I decided to split it into two parts because it's two different POV's. The next chapter will be Aphrodite and I hope you liked this chapter despite the shortness:3 love you!_

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Favourite line? /lydia xox


	8. MVOB: Chapter 7

Disclaimer: All original characters from the House of Night books belong to P.C and Kristin Cast but the storyline and new characters belong to myself.

**My Version of Burned**  
Chapter 7  
_Aphrodite's POV_

Some days I seriously wished that I was just a normal human.

Visions were not only a pain in the ass but having to figure out how to deal with them was worse. _Normal_ people wouldn't have to think about stuff like this; their worst problems were forgetting to study for a pop quiz or getting dumped by their boyfriends. Not that I'd ever have that problem 'cause, y'know, I was gorgeous.

But anyway, being a human would beat this crap any day.

No, scratch that, humans sucked.

And to think that I thought when people turned into vampyres, they got more clever. Obviously not the case with Zoey. I mean, I know that she loved him but...y'know.

"Aphrodite?" Zoey whispered outside my door, tapping against the wood lightly.

"For goddess' sake Zoey, you don't have to whisper. We aren't in a freaking church!" I pulled the door open and came face-to-face with a pretty angry looking Z.

"Actually, we kinda do need to whisper," She rolled her eyes at me and jerked her head towards the door opposite mine, "Fledgling's are sleeping. Not everyone can stand sunlight like you humans."

I gasped at her harsh words.

"Firstly, I am _not_ human. If I was human, I would be so much more unattractive and hopeless. And secondly, why the hell are you on your own? Where's arrow boy?" I scolded, crossing my arms across my chest after shutting the door behind her.

"Guess where he is? It's midday and what do vampyres do then, especially red vampyres? Oh yeah, SLEEP!" A different amount of emotions passed through her face; anger, sadness, annoyance and guilt before settling on anger again.

"Calm down Zoey! What's got your panties in such a bunch?" I asked her, already knowing the answer.

"Argh, nothing. Just forget about it." She groaned, slumping down on my bed, her eyes slowly filling with tears.

"Woah, no crying on my designer duvet!" I ordered, going to sit down next to her, "Seriously? What. Is. The. Matter?"

I don't know why I was asking when I was the cause of the answer.

"Well, it's just..." She started. Now, in this situation I could've gone all Aphrodite on her and just said what I knew but she was genuinely upset and I wanted her to tell me herself. Especially since if I upset her even more now then after I told her about my vision, she would be screwed.

"Yes? Spit it out." I encouraged.

"Whenever Stark and I are about to have sex, he falls asleep." She said in a big rush before looking at me worriedly. I just stared at her, my mouth gaping open.

That's what she was upset about?

"What?" Zoey questioned, confused, "You know, you look really unattractive with your mouth hanging open like that."

Shutting it quickly, I rolled my eyes. Like I could ever look unattractive...

"What is it?" Zoey screeched at me, holding my shoulders and shaking me, messing up my hair in the process. If she was overreacting about this then I do not know how she would take the rest.

"Shut up!" I flattened my hair back down before carrying on, "I'm just surprised that you're getting so upset over such a small thing. When you came over, I thought you were gonna say something like you thought Stark was close to dying because he was constantly sleeping, not actually figuring out the truth."

Zoey stared at me, "How did you know that Stark had been falling asleep on me?"

"Hello? Vision girl! Keep up." I snorted at her, "Anyway, Nyx gifted me again when Heath died so you may now call me Beautiful-Amazing-Vision-Dream-Girl."

"Dream girl?" She asked me, serious confusion on her face, "What do you mean...?"

"Come on, you're not that dumb, are you? Remember when you were unconscious after Heath died and I saw you and I was all like, 'It's a dream'? That's because I can now get into people's dreams. Great, right?" I rolled my eyes once again.

"Like Kalona..." Zoey said gently, a few scared tears falling down her face.

"Don't you _dare_ compare me to that ugly bird creature _thing_!" I yelled at her, seriously offended.

"Okay, but what's this got to do with the Stark and me situation?" She wondered aloud.

"Because I can do more than just get into people's dreams. I can control them too."

She took a deep breath before screaming into my face.

"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST BE HAPPY WITH WHAT YOU'VE GOT? I THOUGHT YOU LOVED DARIUS BUT YOU'VE ALWAYS WANTED STARK INSTEAD! YOU JUST HAD TO TAKE AWAY THE ONE PERSON I LOVED THE MOST SO YOU COULD HAVE HIM FOR YOURSELF! HOW COULD YOU?"

I just sat there, blinking at her.

"I don't love Stark," I told her quietly, "Can you spell ew? That's just sick. The only reason I've been stopping you from having sex with him is because I thought that if you did, _you _would become pregnant," I pointed to her with my perfectly manicured fingernail, "And because of that baby, a world war would start."

And it was then that she realised the redness in my eyes.

* * *

**A/N:** _O dear. Well, this was the second part of the dual narrative chapter and I hoped you liked it. From here on, I'm not really changing it much from the original besides the fact that I will add in the 4 months missing. Love you guys!_

* * *

Favourite line? /lydia xox


	9. MVOB: Chapter 8

Disclaimer: All original characters from the House of Night books belong to P.C and Kristin Cast but the storyline and new characters belong to myself.

**My Version of Burned**  
Chapter 8  
_Zoey's POV_

"I don't love Stark," She murmured in my general direction, "Can you spell ew? That's just sick. The only reason I've been stopping you from having sex with him is because I thought that if you did, _you_ would become pregnant," She pointed a finger at me, "And because of that baby, a world war would start."

And it was then that I realised the redness in her eyes.

"You had a vision..." I whispered gently. It wasn't a question but Aphrodite nodded anyway.

"The last one was inbetween when I called you and when you arrived but I've had them more than once, that's why it was so important for you to come." She admitted, tears in her eyes.

"The same vision more than once?" I asked her. She shook her head.

"It gets worse every time," Aphrodite explained, stifling her sobs, "It started off with you giving birth to a child and Stark was there holding your hand so obviously I assumed it was his. But then it showed..." She cut herself off with a cry. It wasn't the kind of crying you did if you were upset about breaking up with your boyfriend or losing a friend. It was the kind of sobbing like someone had died...

"Aphrodite," I spoke, looking into her watering eyes, "Who dies?"

"Everyone!" She burst out, "Me, Darius, Stark, Damien, Jack, Erin, Shaunee, Grandma..."

"_Grandma_?" I cut her off, covering my mouth with my hand to stop the pained scream from coming through.

"Yes, but that's not the worst part," She had stopped manically sobbing and was now starting to hiccup, "Stevie Rae, Heath and your baby are on _his_ side." I didn't need to ask who _he was_, I had figured it out a while ago, "And...and..." She stuttered.

My heart finally broke with no chance of repair because I knew what she wanted to say.

"Aphrodite, what?" I begged her, even though I knew what her response would be. She just slightly shook her head.

"No!" She cried, "No, it can't happen. It _can't_!" It seemed that the reality of the situation had only just hit her now and it had hit her hard.

"But it will." I said slowly, my vision going fuzzy with tears as I started to fall towards the floor, collapsing as if I was in slow motion.

"Zoey!" Stark shouted, pushing through the locked door and getting to me just in time to catch my falling body.

Soft tears slipped down my white face as I pulled up my hand to find his face just as easily as the tears had found mine. I stroked his tear-stained cheek.

"I love you." I told him, barely above a whisper.

Then it all went black.

And everything disappeared.

I wasn't dying, I knew that because I could hear voices, but I didn't want to cope with it all. I wanted to give in to the darkness.

"Zoey?" I felt Stark's warm breath of my face and I breathed heavily at the touch of it.

"Z?" He got closer and closer until our foreheads were touching.

"Shh, need to rest." I whispered, blocking out everything I could hear after my short sentence.

_Aphrodite had witnessed the end of the world. Not just my world, my friends and family, but the entire world. I knew why and it pained me to think about it._

_It hurt me so badly._

_I would take a raven mocker slicing my chest open a hundred times in comparison to this._

_I would take Stevie Rae keeping secrets from me a million times in comparison to this._

_I would take leaving Heath in comparison to this._

_The worst had come and I didn't know how to handle it. I thought my life was bad before and now this had to go and happen._

_The only thought running through my head was that everything was over._

_That I was finished._

* * *

**A/N:** _I've decided that this is gonna be another two-parter chapter because I don't really like switching POVs in the middle of chapters and I have to do Stark now. The next chapter will be around 600 words like this one so be prepared because it's short but important. I seriously hope you are enjoying the re-writes of my story! Much love:')_

* * *

Favourite line? /lydia xox


	10. MVOB: Chapter 9

Disclaimer: All original characters from the House of Night books belong to P.C and Kristin Cast but the storyline and new characters belong to myself.

**My Version of Burned**  
Chapter 9_  
Stark's POV_

_Confusion._

_Panic._

_Fear._

_Pain._

I was jolted awake and instantly jumped out of bed to protect my Queen from whatever was making her feel this way.

But she wasn't there.

Centring myself, I let my mind guide me to where my Zoey was and it eventually led me to Aphrodite's room.

She was falling.

Zoey!

I didn't know whether I had spoken out loud or in my head but what I did know was that, by reflex, I sprinted forward to catch her. And I caught her. Her physical form at least.

A few traitor teardrops dripped down my face and I made a move to wipe them away until she did it instead. I leant into her hand, staring longingly at her wet face.

"I love you." She murmured before closing her eyes.

"Zoey?" I whispered, looking at her for any sign of her being conscious. Thankfully, she was breathing.

"Z?" I said, putting my face closer to hers. She wiggled as our foreheads touched.

"Shh, need to rest." She ordered faintly. Lucky I was close enough to her otherwise I wouldn't have heard her quiet words.

"Okay." I breathed out before pressing my lips lightly against hers and carefully lifting her to lie down on Aphrodite's bed.

Now, I didn't know what the hell was going on, but it was something bad and anyone could tell that from a mile away.

"Explain." I instructed a crying Aphrodite. It was only when she looked up at me sadly when I really realised how serious it was. Her mascara was all over her face and lip gloss was smudged around her mouth from where she'd been rubbing the tears from her lips – because she hadn't wiped them away, they travelled all the way down to her lips – and this was Aphrodite we were talking about.

"I thought it was yours. I thought!" She cried, rocking from side to side on the floor and getting carpet fluff all over her body in the process.

Kneeling down besides her, I helped her sit up before I went to the bathroom to get some tissues. I wiped the tears away from Zoey's face first and then handed the box to Aphrodite, who only put them aside. Believe me, if you were in my situation right now and Aphrodite passed up the opportunity to use tissues, which she scary needed, you'd be paralysed in fear.

Lucky for them, I was strong.

"Aphrodite," I spoke slowly, "What happened?"

All of a sudden, a stab of pain hit me. It wasn't like the kind of pain you experienced when you rejected the change or when all five of the elements were thrown at your chest. No, this pain was more peaceful than that. Like a feeling that everything was over. Finished.

"I should have paid more attention," Aphrodite sobbed, crawling over to me and putting her head in my lap. Awkwardly, I patted her messed up hair and listened to her, "But it was all so serious; I never thought it would be him. Why him? Why couldn't it have been you?" She asked me, expecting an answer.

In the beginning, I thought she was talking about Darius' death or something and that she would rather I died and not Darius. Charming, wasn't she? I couldn't blame her though because I would risk anyone's life if I had to to save Zoey's, even mine.

But I was wrong about the Darius thing.

"Tell me what happened!" I repeated, panicking just a little bit...okay, a lot.

"No!" She told me, her eyes rolling back into her skull, "Not again! Not now!"

I wasn't confused this time; I already knew what was going on.

Aphrodite was having a vision.

Faster than light, I got a pencil and piece of paper before setting it in front of Aphrodite – like I had seen Jasper do when Alice was having a vision in Twilight, the lame film Zoey made me watch, which was such a cliché of real vampires like us – and waiting impatiently.

After carefully placing the pencil in Aphrodite's hand, I made sure she could write on the paper easily enough and when she could, relief flooded through me, especially when she started drawing what she saw.

She was drawing a baby. A baby with features scarily alike Zoey's but also mixed with someone else's. But I couldn't figure out whose...

I squinted at the next person Aphrodite was drawing. It was a girl around mine and Zoey's age and she was holding hands with a person I vaguely recognized.

Rattling my brain, I tried to remember where I'd seen the person before when Aphrodite suddenly screamed and then, quicker than a usual human (even a human gifted by Nyx) could write, she wrote out a three-lined poem.

Looking closer at it, my breathing quickened and I read it over and over in my head; the relief I had felt, about Aphrodite's vision finally explaining things, quickly changing to fear.

_Now I will return._

_This time with help from past friends._

_Getting my revenge._

* * *

**A/N:** _Dum dum dummmm (once again). Come on guys, it's the most obvious who it is? Looking forward to your update tomorrow, I hope?;) bear in mind, from here on out I'm only going to beta the chapters I've already done and add new ones rather than try to make them longer so sorry in advance for the next very short chapters!_

_Shout out to Evaaaaaay! who is a babe and made a pre' funny makeup vlog; www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=qyKzEyCcNuk&feature=autoshare and check out her Glistening Pool fic, her account's 'evieeemaaay'._

_Love you guys!_

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Favourite line? /lydia xox


	11. MVOB: Chapter 10

Disclaimer: All original characters from the House of Night books belong to P.C and Kristin Cast but the storyline and new characters belong to myself.

**My Version of Burned**  
Chapter 10_  
Zoey's POV_

"We're all going to die, you know." I told Stark quietly from across the room, staring deep into his eyes. Aphrodite was asleep on the floor and I had just 'woken up' a few moments ago.

"I know." He answered, walking silently over to me and lifting me up to sit on his lap. I looked at him curiously, wanting to see what he was thinking, and saw the expression of fear and sadness on his face. It made me burst into a whole new set of moist tears.

"Hey." He murmured, pressing his forehead to mine so our lips were about an inch apart, "It will be okay. I'll _make_ okay: for you."

He kissed me softly as if he was afraid I would break.

I knew he was letting me pull away if I wanted to, but I didn't want to pull away. Kissing Stark made everything better. Made me feel safe.

"I love you." I told him, staring deep into his melted chocolate eyes, "Always."

"As do I." He responded instantly, silent tears falling down his face, "Through everything."

Making myself more comfortable around his body, Stark lifted me up to walk towards my/our room. I was almost asleep so I didn't noticed the scrunched up piece of paper in his sweaty hand as he lay me down to rest.

"Stay with me." I whimpered, grabbing hold of his arm as my eyes gradually closed.

"Always and through everything." He whispered, climbing into bed next to me, fully dressed, as was I.

We barely touched; we just lay there, eyes closed and hands entwined.

Forgetting the world.

As the skin of my hand brushed against his, it was then that I noticed the piece of messed up paper. Gently, I eased it out from his grasp, careful not to wake him, and went to the bathroom to turn the light on.

As I read the words written on the card, my gradually slowing heartbeat starting beating so fast it was like a hummingbird. It was only certain words which I picked up on and certain features of the pictures.

_Now I will _return_._

_This time with help from _past friends_._

_Getting my _revenge_._

In the poem, it was those three snippets from each line and in the pictures it was the girl's cruel stare, the baby's gentle olive skin tone and the man's familiar, inviting smile.

Turning around, knowing what would be there, I picked up the note and pregnancy test from on top of the sink.

Putting the pregnancy test aside, I read the note.

_Zoeybird,_

_You know what this means. Be strong and fight evil with all you have. Do not think that you should give in to guilt. Past pain does not mean revenge._

_Nyx_

And then at the bottom of the note was the date of the day which I regretted the most in my entire life. The day that changed everything and is still changing it now.

I knew that I didn't need to take the test because I was positive what the answer was – positive being the key word – but I took it all the same for the sake of argument and people's trust and belief.

As soon as I walked out of the bathroom with the smiley-faced test in my hand, three things happened at once.

Damien burst into my room, tears pouring down his face.

I ran to Stark before passing out dramatically – I mean, could you blame me?

And _they_ walked in, smiling.

"Stevie Rae is dead...for good."

"I'm pregnant."

"Missed us?"

* * *

**A/N:** _Ohhhhhhhhhhhh no. Anyway, short chapter again; sozzabeans. The next chapter will be Stevie Rae POVed about how she died. Loveeeeeee!_

* * *

Favourite line? /lydia xox


	12. MVOB: Chapter 11

Disclaimer: All original characters from the House of Night books belong to P.C and Kristin Cast but the storyline and new characters belong to myself.

**My Version of Burned**  
Chapter 11_  
Stevie Rae's POV_

_Stop them._

I didn't know why or how I could do it, but I did know that I had to stop them. It was just like when Zoey got one of those gut feelings from Nyx, telling her when something was right or wrong; it felt exactly like one of those.

Except way bigger.

It all started when Erik and Lenobia found me in that hole with Rephaim. Well, they didn't actually find Rephaim, but he was there, obviously. We were walking back to the House of Night and we were just about to enter when we heard an ear-splitting scream.

Expecting it to be Rephaim I quickly turned around to protect him, but I was mistaken. It was just some human outside the gates. Rolling my eyes, I went to go back inside with Lenobia when we both noticed at the same time that Erik was staring transfixed at the human. I rushed up to him to ask what was going on when I did a double-take of the person.

Zoey had described her to me enough times for me to know what she looked like without having to see a photo.

We were about to go up to her, after a quick explanation to Lenobia about who she was, when something freaked us out even more than Kalona bird-man bursting out from the blood-soaked ground. If my friends weren't on both of my sides, I would have probably fallen over in horror and shock and burned up there and then.

Luckily, neither of the two people we were gawking at noticed us standing there, but that was going to change very soon.

"Hey! Over here!" We shouted at them as they carried on walking towards the House of Night jets, ignoring us. After about five seconds, everything fell into place...

They were both going to Italy to find Zoey. And the reason they were going to find her? One word.

_Revenge._

After I had figured it all out and quickly explained it to my companions, we were running onto the next possible flight to stop them. We would have gotten on _their_ plane, but we all decided that it was better to stop them at Italy rather than confront them during the flight.

So we got onto the aircraft straight after theirs and explained to the pilot that we had to follow them.

And that brought me up to the present moment.

Lenobia had just gotten one of the air hosts' (_not_ hostess') to put some nice cream stuff on my back to soothe the burns. I had to say; it felt _good_.

The only bad things happening were that we were all probably going to die soon.

And also the fact that the weather was seriously bad. If you were there, you would have thought that you were in a baking hot oven.

Almost instantly after I noticed the weather, an air hostess came up to me and explained that were just entering Italy, so that's why the weather was so bad.

"Excuse me?" I said politely to the host who was rubbing my back, "Could you stop now please?" It's not that I was tired of the guy, who was pretty hot, massaging my body, it was just that I _really_ needed some sleep.

"Of course." He replied, putting his hand over his heart and bowing.

It freaking annoyed me when people did that. I knew that I was a priestess and it was respectable etcetera but _goddess_, it was annoying. I now knew what Zoey got so annoyed about.

Hopefully sleep would lower my stress levels...

As I woke up, the first thing I felt was pain, and it made me wince. The window which I was leaning on hadn't had it's curtain covering it resulting in my almost melting onto the window while I was unconscious.

At least the windows in these planes were about a metre thick.

I reached across to untie the curtains when I actually realised how hard it was tied. Obviously, I went to find Lenobia 'cause, you know, she was small and slight but hench.

Once she had come over and helped me untie the knot, I sat her down and put my hands on her shoulders.

"So...what is up with you and the pilot?" I questioned her, grinning when she blushed slightly.

"He was my boyfriend at my old House of Night for all four of the years." She replied, smiling happily.

"Why did you break up?" I had seen the way they looked at each other on this plane ride. They were completely and utterly lost in love.

"We didn't. We were going to have a long distance relationship after I moved to Tulsa's House of Night, but we just stopped trying and somewhere along the way, we went from calling and skyping every night to texting once a month. I guess I got so caught up in my work that I didn't even notice he had become a pilot in Oklahoma." She just forgot about him?

"So you just forgot about him?" I repeated my thoughts, my voice confused.

"Oh no!" She gasped, shocked, "I could never ever forget about George. In fact, when we were dating, we even mentioned getting married."

I mentally laughed at the thought of Lenobia getting married. She would never tolerate a controlling husband so George must have really loved her.

"I got to go now, Stevie Rae, George is gesturing for me to come over." I smiled as in one swift movement, she pulled the curtains across the clear window.

Getting ready to go back to sleep after Lenobia had left, I leant against the soft cotton when I suddenly heard a loud sob come from the front of the plane.

Since it was a tiny jet, I squinted forward to see what was going on and stifled a sob myself.

George was proposing to Lenobia.

And it was the sweetest thing as well because he had obviously prepared a speech for her, looking at the tears on her cheeks.

She just _had _to say yes.

"_Yes!_" Even though she was far away from me, I could hear her answer as clear as day.

I swear I was about to faint! Lenobia and George were both crying and hugging each other now; it was all so sweet!

Dizzy with the situation, I grabbed onto the edge of my seat so I wouldn't fall forward.

Wait, that's not me getting dizzy, that's the plane...

Yep, definitely the plane because Erik and the staff are all wobbling too.

What is going on...

OH MY GOOD_NESS_! George isn't steering! What kind of _idiot_ forgets to steer a freaking, moving plane? Did he think that it would be perfectly fine all on it's own?

WE'RE GOING TO CRASH...

_Falling...falling..._

_I tried to stop._

_I wasn't fast enough._

_I ran towards George, screaming at him to steer because we were going to crash._

_When Lenobia heard this, she leant against the emergency door button to turn around to see me._

_But it was too late._

_I was already falling through the door..._

_...with Lenobia by my side._

_I grabbed her hand - not wanting to go through this alone – when I was suddenly jerked upwards._

_George was pulling Lenobia up and Erik was helping him as much as possible._

_She tried to save me but she wasn't fast enough._

_Death is peaceful._

_It makes you think of all the good things you've done in your life._

_Not typical everyday things._

_Like my hair is too curly._

_Or what if there isn't any lucky charms cereal._

_You don't think like that._

_I loved my life._

_I loved my friends._

_My mama._

_And her chocolate chip cookies._

_I even loved Aphrodite._

_I'll close my eyes._

_That'll make it less painful when I hit the ground._

_Or sea or tree or what it is I'll fail into._

"_Why can't you talk to Zoey instead of me?"_

_A familiar voice echoed through my head._

_Tranquillity._

_Heath's voice had been pretty nice all the time I'd known him if I was honest, even when I tried to kill him that one time._

_I don't know why I hadn't noticed it before._

_Wait..._

_Heath's voice?_

_I opened my eyes to see a meadow._

_And inside of it?_

_Trees._

_Kalona._

_And _Heath_?_

* * *

**A/N:** _I know that this is still short but I think it might be my longest chapter yet so still yay? Stevie Rae's actual dead now D: sad times. Much love to you readers!_

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_Favourite line? /lydia xox_


	13. MVOB: Chapter 12

Disclaimer: All original characters from the House of Night books belong to P.C and Kristin Cast but the storyline and new characters belong to myself.

**My Version of Burned**  
Chapter 12_  
Stark's POV_

Nervously, I sat on Zoey's bed outside of her en-suite bathroom.

I couldn't believe that Zoey was, or was going to be, pregnant but what I couldn't believe more was what Aphrodite said was going to happen. From her vision, I mean.

Of course I knew that she was 'vision girl' and all that, but didn't her visions change sometimes? Wouldn't we be able to stop them? She saw Zoey dying twice and the first time we stopped it and even though she almost died the second time, she still came back.

As soon as I had finished pondering, Zoey walked out of her bathroom and three things happened at once.

Damien burst into her room, crying dramatically.

She bolted to me and completely soaked my shirt with tears before passing out.

And lastly, the two people from Aphrodite's vision walked through the door, smiling wickedly.

"Stevie Rae is dead...for good."

"I'm pregnant."

"Missed us?"

Obviously the first thing I did was make sure Zoey was okay by laying her down on her bed, checking her breathing and then making sure she was in no danger. Immediate danger at least because I couldn't protect her from everything all the time...

What was I saying? Of course I could! I could protect Zoey and would because I loved her more than anything in the entire universe.

"I love you." I whispered in her ear after I had laid her down. Thankfully, she was breathing and she had just fainted.

After I had sorted out Zoey, I went over to Damien and told him to stay with her and look after her.

I gestured for the other two to go outside and followed them after they did.

The first thing I did when we were out of Zoey's room was to punch him.

What else would I have done?

I couldn't _believe_ how much danger he was putting her in. If they hadn't come, Zoey would have eventually banished Kalona and Neferet and we could have raised her baby as our own. We could have got _married_ and started our family...

"What was that for?" He interrupted my mind babbling, scowling menacingly at me.

"For putting Zoey in danger, once again..." I told him, "If you ever, _ever_ do anything to hurt her, just know this: I. Will. Kill. You."

"And I expect you think you're something to Zoey? Like you _always_ have to protect her..." He retorted, laughing and nudging the girl besides him as she joined in.

"Well yeah, I kinda do." I snorted, scornfully laughing in my head at the fact that he didn't realise she was my Queen.

"Who do you think you are? Her _warrior_?" He chuckled obnoxiously, "I mean, I know you're her boyfriend and all that but that doesn't technically make you her protector." I couldn't help but burst out laughing at his speech. There was so much he didn't know...

"Actually, it kinda does." I said, preparing to laugh right in his face, "I _am_ her warrior; I've given her my pledge and all."

That served him right. He thought I couldn't see it, but I could; that little flash of pain that showed up in his eyes. _She_ definitely saw it. I could tell by the worry showing in _her_ eyes; foolish little girl. Why couldn't she see that he was just using her?

Actually, she looked about Zoey's age so I couldn't really call her a little girl. If I was thinking about it, I would call Zoey a woman, but this _teenager_ just didn't seem worthy of being called the same as my Zoey. She was in fact, a slut if you looked at her carefully enough. At a glance or a photo or a drawn _picture_ you would think that she was a perfectly normal girl, but in real life you could tell that she wasn't. For one, the painfully hard glare in her eyes was really unnatural but what was more unnatural was the deep purple, lightning-shaped tattoo on her forehead.

It wasn't like Zoey didn't have enough to deal with and now there was a new race of vampyres.

"Hey! Pay attention..." The horrid girl uttered, obviously feeling intimidated next to _him_.

I didn't know what was so amazing about him anyway. I had seen photos of him before in Tulsa's House of Night, even in my old House of Night, and then in the newspaper the day Zoey's heart broke.

I still couldn't believe he did it. I punched him again for good measure and then started back towards Zoey's room, but not before announcing loudly:

"Stay away from Zoey for good or you'll be sorry; I swear on it."

And then, changing my mind about going back to Zoey's room, I started walking towards Aphrodite's instead, texting Damien along the way.

_need u 2 look after Z 4 a bit- busy_

* * *

**A/N:** _Just saying, I am in a really depressing mood because this whole massive thing happened on my sims 3 and now I've lost my entire town I was working on which had a 5-8 generation family on there and when I tried to re-create it, I started crying; I'm lame, I know, but that is the reason for the lack of happiness in my upcoming chapters. Number 2, I have just realised (well, I realised a while ago but I'm just telling you guys now) that my A/N's have been quite vague and that's because this story is actual a re-make of my original on the same URL so I keep assuming that everybody knows my notes on the chapter because they've already read it but obviously not all of you have read it. _

_**LASTLY, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT SO PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE READ THIS PART**: The next chapter of this story is the 4 months I missed in the original writing of it, as I've said in an earlier chapter (I think) I am going to attempt to write these 4 months but I am also putting the whole 4 months into 1 chapter! Those of my original readers who read the original would want to know this otherwise it might confuse them but this is the first time I'm writing and not just re-writing in a while because of an accident I involved in which my massive fans will know about and I'd rather not talk about it either because it just brings up bad memories so I'm sorry if this next chapter is rubbish/: much love for you!_

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_Favourite line? /lydia xox_


	14. MVOB: Chapter 13

Disclaimer: All original characters from the House of Night books belong to P.C and Kristin Cast but the storyline and new characters belong to myself.

**My Version of Burned**  
Chapter 13_  
Zoey' POV_

It's weird how much things can change in just four short months. 122 days ago, I was passed out on a bed which wasn't mine in Italy with the bane of my existence standing just a few feet outside my door. It's safe to say that things have been looking up since then. Stark and I were _official_ official and while he was an archery teacher at Tulsa's House of Night, I was the High Priestess there.

Freaky, right?

And how did this all happen, I hear you ask?

Well it all started on that same disastrous day in Venice...

* * *

"Zoey? Zoey, wake up!" Damien shook me gently, his breath washing over my face as I wriggled uncomfortably. Opening my eyes, his face surprised me by how close it was.

"Ever heard of personal space?" I deadpanned, moving to sit up and feeling more than slightly guilty when a hurt look overtook Damien's face, "I'm sorry honey, I'm just stressed."

He nodded understandingly and handed me a glass of water.

"Thought you might be thirsty? You've been asleep for over five hours..." Now that he mentioned it, I was pretty thirsty. Lifting the rim to my lips, I took a big gulp of the refreshing liquid and didn't stop until I had finished it and felt much more energized. Who knew that water could help almost as much as blood..._almost_, blood was still better though.

"You wanna update me on what's being going on?" _Even though I already know a part of it_, I thought in my head.

"Okay, well, as you know, _they_ came in here, then you passed out and after making sure you were okay, Stark went outside to talk to them and judging by the harsh comments I could overhear, I am assuming he threatened them but it was a relatively short conversation," He paused for a breath and I took the opportunity to release the panic that had been building up inside of me.

"Where's Stark now? Is he okay?" I shoot up out of bed and went to sprint to the door. I didn't know what I was going to do once I got there but I trusted that our bond would take me to him.

"Zoey! Down!" Damien ordered like I was a dog, pointing back at my bed for me to sit, "Stark is fine, he's just off on general warrior duty, letting you get your rest."

I decided not to press for anymore information and obeyed his command because I really did want to know what went down with _them_ after Stark had left.

Settling down on the soft duvet, I leant against the wall behind the bed and hugged my pillow to my chest.

"Carry on." I encouraged, moving to put my hair up in a bun, because it was seriously hating on me after my nap, as Damien continued.

"Anyway, after Stark had threatened and left _them_ alone in the corridor, I heard a few illegible murmurs and then there was utter silence. I don't know what possessed me to do it, knowing that it could be a trap, but I went outside after a couple of minutes and found this note taped to the outside of the door."

He handed me the note and I rolled my eyes at the mysteriousity (yes, I was feeling well enough to start making up my own words again) of it all.

_We'll leave for now, but don't forget this: we will be back. You won't get any warning of when or how but we will return..._

Even Damien managed to giggle gaily a little as he re-read it.

"After I read the note, I came straight back inside and I've been waiting here with you so that I could show you the note once you woke up." He was the sweetest thing.

"You didn't have to do that." I said incredulously, reaching over to squeeze his hand lightly before letting go.

"I wanted to. I feel..." He choked up a little bit as tears filled his eyes, "I feel like I should appreciate you guys more...after I found out that Stevie Rae died, my heart just broke into a trillion tiny pieces." He sniffed loudly and leant over to rest his head on my shoulder.

"She died, Zoey. She was in a plane to here to warn us about them but she didn't make it in time because of this stupid pilot of something. Lenobia called and explained everything; Lenobia's fine though, physically at least." I grimaced at Damien's explanation because I already knew what had happened.

* * *

Let's just say that after I had passed out, I had another Otherworld dream. Yes, Heath was there again, but Stevie Rae was there too. I was more than confused to say the least, but after a _lot_ of explaining, everything was resolved and the truth was revealed.

Firstly, Stevie Rae explained to me why she was there by explaining her death etcetera and before I could get upset about _another _one of my friends dying, she also explained her plan. Well, Heath and her plan. Their plan to do what, you ask?

To banish Kalona.

Yeah my friends were great, despite the fact that Heath had lied to me on my first Otherworld visit about him having a plan to become human again, but learning about this new plan made him 100% forgiven.

After I woke up and dealt with the Damien situation, it was pretty hectic to say the least. We had to deal with the high council, Neferet and Kalona but after two months from that day, it was all worth it.

* * *

Okay, I could do this. All I had to do was take deep breaths. _Deep breaths._

"You ready for this, Zo?" Heath asked with worry laced in his voice like his hands were laced with mine.

"I think so." I whispered, squeezing both of my friends hands before letting go.

"You'll do great Z, you always do." Stevie Rae reassured me confidently from my other side, giving me one last hug.

_I could do this._

Stepping forward into the forest opening while Stevie Rae and Heath stepped back to hide behind some trees, Kalona came into my view.

"A-ya, you come back to me once again." His voice was like honey and sugar and I begged myself not to truly give in to what I knew was evil. A sweet-smelling breeze filled my body and I knew that it was Stevie Rae giving me the confidence I needed.

"I will always come back to you..." I assured him in the seductive voice I didn't know I had. He obviously didn't know I had it either judging by the surprised look on his face, but in this situation surprise was definitely not bad for _him_.

"Finally." He muttered underneath his breath before rushing forward to take me in his arms, "You must not be playing games with me, A-ya, because if you are..."

I stroked his face with the back of my hand lovingly.

"Like I would ever play games with you, my love." How I stopped myself from gagging, I do not know.

"Tell me you love me." His voice dropped two octaves and he placed delicate, soon turning to rough, kisses down my neck.

"I lov..." Before I could finish my sentence, his lips met mine and I gave into the sensations.

Don't kill me just yet because there is still more to come, thought I'd just let you all know that even though Kalona could make people think he was devastatingly gorgeous, I do not banish him by falling for him. Also, the whole point of this short paragraph was to waste your time and a bit of a spoiler for this next part of how I banished Kalona.

"Oh, A-ya!" Kalona moaned into my mouth, pulling me impossibly closer.

Or trying at least.

As soon as I had let myself go with him, the thing happened which I knew _would _happen.

She left me.

This entire time, I had been fighting Kalona because despite the fact that my soul was calling to him, he was evil. I never knew that all along, the only thing I had to do with give in.

Give in to the love I felt for him, the desire, because as soon as I did, I would be done.

And she would leave me to be with him.

As soon as I felt the emptiness in my soul, not necessarily a bad emptiness, I pulled away and smiled in triumph at the sight in front of me.

Mist and fog surrounded Kalona, trapping him and making him inable to speak. A-ya had trapped him once again and was carrying him further and further away; underground.

I was successful.

* * *

In case you didn't get that, all I had to do was stop fighting Kalona and kiss him with the passion I felt so that A-ya could find Kalona once again and etcetera.

I was pretty awesome, I know, but something bad which did result from Kalona's disappearance was that Heath and Stevie Rae were stuck in the Otherworld until I figured out how to get them back. This is because Kalona seemed to be the only one who knew how to get them there, and back we're assuming.

On a happier note, when he was banished, Neferet went right along with him; something to do with having such conviction that he was her consort...I don't even know.

But life was pretty amazing from then on, despite the fact that everyone was still tense anticipating _their _arrival back.

After returning from Italy back to Tulsa, Kalona's influence on everyone seemed to disappear when he did, so after about a month of discussion from basically everyone in the vampyre world, I was voted into power as Tulsa's High Priestess.

Stark was the new archery teacher, surprise surprise, but that wasn't really such a big deal considering that we didn't even have one in the first place.

Yes, I was still pregnant and the baby's father was most definitely _his_ - I could figure that out without a paternity test – but it didn't bother me so such anymore. I knew that Stark would never be my baby's father by blood but he would be there for them when we started our family as if he _was_ their real father.

Erin and Shaunee were doing pretty well, they were still in normal classes and finding it more than slightly weird being taught by their friends but they put up with it. Unfortunately, TJ and Cole were soon out of the picture when some twins were transferred from New York's House of Night to ours and let's just say that _our_ twins ate them up.

Damien and Jack were more in love than ever and I had to say that they were the most adorable couple _ever_. They acted like an old married couple but in the sweetest way.

Aphrodite and Darius' relationship got stronger every day and I would probably name them the _3__rd_ cutest couple, behind Damien and Jack and Stark and I.

Stark and I.

It felt amazing to say it and I couldn't be more happy that we were a _couple_ couple.

Grandma Redbird was perfectly fine and was living on her lavender farm with regular visits from myself and Sister Mary Angela.

Life was good.

And I hoped for it stayed that way.

But as always, I spoke too soon.

* * *

**A/N:** _Okay, so that was the chapter which I've written completely from scratch (give or take the paragraph which has the basic summary of this chapter) so please tell me what you guys think? Even though all of you have probably guessed it or reviewed it already, if you guess who the mysterious _he _or _she_ is, please do not write it in your reviews because I want people to guess on their own and they aren't going to be able to do that if they look at the reviews page and it's right there in front of them. I don't mind if you PM me guessing who it is, but I'm not going to tell you despite the fact that I think Evie and Aleesha already know it:L love for you!_

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_Favourite line? /lydia xox_


	15. MVOB: Chapter 14

Disclaimer: All original characters from the House of Night books belong to P.C and Kristin Cast but the storyline and new characters belong to myself.

**My Version of Burned**  
Chapter 14  
_Stark's POV_

"And this is the last room." The estate agent told me kindly, opening the wooden door so that I could step inside.

Wow...

I hated to say it but Aphrodite really did have good taste in houses.

"And what's this room usually used for, Mrs...?" I asked the estate agent curiously.

"No Mrs, Just call me Annabel please," She smiled at me, "And this room is usually a nursery for children aged newborn to three years old."

A nursery...

It was still unreal to me that Zoey was pregnant. She was at her check-up right this second and if my counting was correct (which it probably was), Zoey was four months, two weeks and six days pregnant.

Everyday Zoey gets more and more tense about _him_ coming back, but I manage to sooth her as best as I can.

At the present moment, I was looking through Aphrodite recommended houses for the future; mine and Zoey's future. When she showed me photos of the houses, my eyes instantly went to the price at the top of the sheet. I told her that I couldn't afford even half of the price of the cheapest one and all she told me was that it was her engagement present for me, us. Well, future engagement present.

Yes, I was going to propose to Zoey, and call me cocky or whatnot but I had a major feeling she was going to say yes.

So after tonight, hopefully, I would have a beautiful fiancée, an amazing home and I would know the sex of Zoey's and my future baby.

"Um, excuse me sir?" Annabel uncomfortably waved her hand in front of my face, "I don't want to bother you but we do need to get going if you want to see the rest of the houses..."

"No thank you," I told her confused looking face, "This one is perfect." A bigger smile than before lighted up her features. It was probably the most expensive house of the lot- no surprise that it was so nice.

"Brilliant! You just need to sign your name here and the house is yours." She told me, handing over a piece of paper. I quickly signed my name on it and handed it back to her. I watched as her eyes widened in surprise.

"_You're_ James Stark?" She stuttered, looking at me nervously. I had assumed that she already knew but goddess, I hated it when people did that. Yes, I had a major gift with a bow and arrow and _yes_, I was officially dating the most powerful High Priestess of Nyx.

"Yes." I told her, forcing a smile as I walked stiffly out of the nursery door. She noted that I was uncomfortable with the whole subject therefore she started walking out to the front door before speaking quietly.

"Well, it's nice to meet you James, and I hope you enjoy your new home." And then with those last words, she took off quickly.

Even though I didn't really have any experience in the whole _nice homes _thing, I still thought that this house was beautiful.

Zoey was more beautiful though.

I was so lucky.

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**A/N:** _I know it's a really short chapter but I think that I have said earlier on in one of my A/Ns that I don't want to do dual POV's in 1 chapter and this chapter was originally Stark _and_ Zoey POVed so that's why it's so short and that's why the next chapter will be so short as well. Love you guys!_

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_Favourite line? /lydia xox_


	16. MVOB: Chapter 15

Disclaimer: All original characters from the House of Night books belong to P.C and Kristin Cast but the storyline and new characters belong to myself.

**My Version of Burned**  
Chapter 15  
_Zoey's POV_

A girl.

A_ girl._

_I was having a baby girl._

Wow.

I still couldn't believe how amazing it was.

I mean, if it wasn't _his _and it was Stark's, then my life would be _beyond_ perfection. But I could settle for just plain perfect right now.

"Zoey, snap out of it." Aphrodite complained tiredly, trying to pull me away from the picture of my baby girl (in my uterus obviously) but smirking at me too.

"What?" I asked her as her grin widened, "Okay, you're just freaking me out now. What's going on?"

"Nothing, nothing." She assured me, trying to hide her smile and glancing down at my baby, "I just think you're going to have a nice surprise when you see Stark. Maybe even as nice as this." She pointed down at my little girl.

"Well, it's going to have to be a pretty big surprise to beat this." I told her, clutching the picture to my chest and walking towards Aphrodite's car.

"Oh, believe me, it's a _very_ big surprise..."

I wondered what could be bigger than finding out that you're having a perfect little baby girl.

Up until today, I always thought of her as a thing which kept a part of _him_ inside of me, but now that I knew she was a girl, it made everything much more real, better. And I didn't have to worry about the baby turning out exactly like her father because she was female. I mean, I knew that she could still look a little alike her dad but at least she wouldn't be identical to him...

Some when after this meaningless babble in my head, I started to realise that Aphrodite wasn't heading back to the House of Night _or_ her and Darius' house.

"Where are we going?" I questioned her, trying to recognize the road ahead but only seeing smoke.

"To your surprise!" Aphrodite said excitedly, jumping up and down in her seat.

This surprise _had_ to be big; it had Aphrodite jumping.

"Please don't let it be walking through fire or something stupid like that." I begged her, trying to figure out where the fire smoke was coming from, but instead of finding out where it _came_ from, I found out what it was.

We finally arrived and I gasped at the sight.

Stark was standing in the middle of a stranger's (very beautiful) house's porch, surround by glimmering candles, which explained the whole fire and smoke thing.

As soon as the car stopped, Stark rushed up to my door to open it for me and helped me out. Even though I was only four months pregnant, my bump...no, baby _girl_, had really started to show, so when Stark helped me out of the car, I didn't complain at his help at all. Not that I would have anyway, or could have after the gorgeous sight in front of me.

Once Aphrodite had turned around and left, waving and grinning like a maniac, I wrapped my arms around Stark's neck and kissed him smack on the mouth. Still kissing, he lifted me (don't even ask me how he had the strength to do that considering the amount of weight I had put on) and carried me over to the candle-lit porch.

After what seemed like hours of making-out, I pulled back and smiled happily at him.

"Hello." I said, seeing as I hadn't said a word yet and neither had he.

"Hey." He said, smiling like a dork.

"You smile like a dork..." I spoke my thoughts out loud, which I seemed to be doing a lot during my pregnancy now that I thought about it. He didn't mind though because the sparkle in his eyes showed me that he knew I loved this dork.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Does my smile offend you?" He asked, playfully looking sad, "Because I can be upset if you'd like me to be."

He started laughing heartily when a look of hurt came across my face; he knew that his sad face broke my heart. I thumped him on the head with my hand.

Unfortunately, that was the hand which held the photo of my sonogram, making it slightly screwed. Before I could flatten it out, Stark took it from my hand and stared at it for a while. I could now see why Aphrodite was getting annoyed- it _was_kinda frustrating watching someone else stare at an image, despite what it was of.

"A girl or a boy?" He asked me, no expression on his face.

"A girl." I replied through my soon falling tears and joyful smile. A few months ago, Stark would have demanded to know why I was crying and if I was upset but recently, since our dating relationship had gotten stronger, our bond had become stronger too and he could tell that they were tears of joy.

"Congratulations!" He told me, still staring at the piece of paper. He started digging around for something in his pocket with the hand he wasn't holding the picture with and out came a small, white velvet box. He opened it and there in the middle of the clear silk, was the most beautiful ring in existence.

"When I first met you, I thought you were beautiful, but I knew you didn't feel the same about yourself. You also looked vulnerable, hurt and sad. The only thought running through my mind that day was how you could be so sad when you were so beautiful. Since that day, I've seen you grow from that scared, upset little girl to a strong-willed, powerful, gorgeous High Priestess.

"I never want to see you hurt like that again and I promise with all my heart that I will protect you from ever feeling like that. You're everything to me and I love you with my entire being. I can't imagine my life without you and if you only say yes...

"Zoey Redbird?" Stark said, kneeing down on one knee and looking up into my tear-filled eyes, "Will you marry me?"

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**A/N:** _Awww, right? It's obvs what Zoey's gonna say but you're gonna have to wait for the next chapter to know for sure;) - THAT WAS MY PREVIOUSLY WRITTEN A/N, I don't even know what to say, I haven't updated so long, I guess I just have been busy with coursework and I have to keep travelling around for certain reasons..but I love you guys!_

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_Favourite line? /lydia xox_


	17. MVOB: Chapter 16

Disclaimer: All original characters from the House of Night books belong to P.C and Kristin Cast but the storyline and new characters belong to myself.

**My Version of Burned**  
Chapter 16  
_Stark's POV_

"Zoey Redbird?" I whispered, getting down in the proposal position and staring into her watering eyes, "Will you marry me?"

The reaction I got to my question was nowhere near the reaction I was actually expecting.

I was expecting her to say yes, obviously, and maybe smile a little then ask me if I thought we were moving too fast, if it was the right time and if I was sure that this was what I wanted. I got _much_ better than that.

At first, she was speechless. She just kept staring at me until her eyes eventually dried up and she collapsed into my arms.

"Zoey?" I asked her worriedly, "What's the matter?" She didn't answer my question though, she just started crying all over again.

"Are you upset because you don't think of me that way or you don't like my past or you think I'll boss you around or...or..." She cut me off by putting her delicate finger to my lips and speaking through her over-flowing tears.

"I don't care what you've been through or where you've come from, I love you more than anything and I'm yours forever."

When she said that, my own eyes filled with tears and I went back to staring at her beautiful face.

_She loved me._

"I'm assuming that's a yes?" I asked her, slightly unsure but still smiling her favourite cocky smile through my tears. She nodded and wrapped her arms around my neck, smiling the most adorable smile which lit up her whole face.

Cupping her tear-stained cheek gently, I brought her lips to mine, softly kissing her. In the usual circumstances, she would react by kissing me more eagerly than I was, but this time she kissed me more gently than I had to her, more sensuously. I stood and picked her up, making a move to walk inside the house, as she wrapped her legs around my waist and leant her head on my shoulder.

"Wait..." She whispered, confusion showing up on her face, "Whose house is this?"

"Ours." I confessed, melting as a perfect little joyous and surprised expression appeared in her features.

"I _love_ you!" She squealed loudly and then before placing her head back on my shoulder, she kissed me enthusiastically for a few seconds.

I couldn't believe how cute she was; it was only a house, bless her.

When we reached the master bedroom, I heard Zoey's intake of breath. I could tell that she loved it, just as I suspected she would.

Carefully, I laid her on the bed and held my weight over her as I watched her assess the room.

The walls were a creamy-white, sea-foam colour and there were planks of polished, light-coloured wood as the floor. There was barely any furniture cluttering up the beautiful room, just a king-size canopy bed in the middle of it with a cream-silk sheets and duvet.

On either sides of the bed were white bedside tables with vases of white roses on top of them and then the only other furniture was the wooden wardrobe and chest of drawers on either side of the archway door.

I hadn't noticed until I carried Zoey into that room that when Aphrodite had had the furniture delivered, she had thrown a load of white rose petals on the bed. They made Zoey look all the more stunning when they mixed with her hair. When the petals mixed with her hair that is, not the furniture.

We didn't do what you would think couples did on their engagement night.

Zoey and I just lay in between the comfortable sheets and cover, hands entwined. Zoey was just in her bra and panties but I was still in my jeans (no shirt) in case I had to get out of the bed in the night suddenly. Like if my Zoey, my fiancée, was in danger and we needed to leave quickly.

I don't think I slept at all that night.

All I did was lay there and once in a while I would turn my head and smile gently at Zoey's sweet face.

Because I had proposed to her in the very early morning, about 3am – don't even ask how a clinic would be open at that time for Zoey's ultrasound – (so that the candles would show up more than if it was daytime and so that we didn't burn up either), we had the whole day (day for humans, night for vampyres) to just lay together and talk.

If Zoey wanted to talk that was.

When she finally drifted off, I got up off the bed, careful not to pull the duvet off her, and went to close the big drapes covering the massive window.

I didn't mention it before but our bedroom had the most beautiful view of the countryside. Right behind our bed, covering the whole wall was a huge window with easy to shut drapes so neither of us would burn up and Zoey wouldn't hurt her eyes either.

As I climbed back into bed, I started paying more attention to Zoey's delicate features. Her perfect hazel eyes; her Cherokee nose; her soft lips, so gentle to touch. Without realising it, I lifted my finger to her sleeping face and gently caressed her lips, causing her to stir.

I froze as she lifted her arms up above her head and sighed. I couldn't believe how lucky I was. Most people in the position which Zoey was in would look completely stupid but I couldn't image her looking more beautiful.

After focusing so hard on her face, my gaze travelled up to her clenched hand. Carefully, I removed her fingers from the tight hold they were in and took the white velvet box from the beside table where I left it. Careful not to disturb her, I slid the simple Cherokee gold ring onto her long finger. Surprisingly, she woke up from that one small touch, blinking her unusually big eyes.

Unusually big, _scared_ looking eyes.

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**A/N:** _IMPORTANT A/N- I know that I said at the beginning I would be updating everyday but I'm getting towards the part where I actually have to start writing and not just re-editing so the rest of the chapters in this story probably won't be updated the day after but they might be if you're lucky;) hope you like it so far and I'm sorry I won't be updating everyday anymore! - old A/N once again, so just saying, from here onwards, my writing may get better, or more likely worse, because I haven't written in so long and this chapter was pre-written, so I hope you still love me :'(_

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_Favourite line? /lydia xox_


	18. MVOB: Chapter 17

Disclaimer: All original characters from the House of Night books belong to P.C and Kristin Cast but the storyline and new characters belong to myself.

**My Version of Burned**  
Chapter 17  
_Zoey's POV_

"Wait..." I murmured, confused at why we were entering a stranger's house. "Whose house is this?"

"Ours." He whispered, looking deep into my eyes as a s mile broke across my face.

"I _love_ you!" I confessed, kissing him excitedly. I could not believe he had gotten us a house! A beautiful one at that.

As soon as we reached the main bedroom, I gasped sharply.

It was...indescribable. Literally no words came into my mind because it was perfect in every single way. I had no idea how Stark got it to look so...amazing? The word just didn't give it justice.

The smooth, white rose petals on the bed made it all the more perfect when I laid down on them and Stark starting pulling the flowers out of my hair, stroking my head in the process. I know it sounded weird but it felt really nice.

I didn't particularly want to go to sleep that night, especially since I knew that Stark wasn't going to seeing as he was staring intently at me and looking like he wasn't in the least bit tired. But laying there, holding his hand, in just my panties and bra – and him in just his jeans look totally _hot_ – made me feel more tired than ever.

After a quick reassuring smile from my _fiancée_ – wow – confirming that I could go to sleep, I passed out almost instantly.

When I woke up in the Otherworld on a log surrounded by trees, let's just say that I wasn't particularly surprised, seeing as this was the setting for the majority of my dreams nowadays. Getting up and stretching, I quickly scanned the area for Stevie Rae and/or Heath.

As much as I searched, I couldn't seem to find them so I assumed that they must have been fishing or picking daisies or pointing at clouds or whatever.

Looking down at myself, I sighed. Ten times in a row I had worn this same dress, and even though it was flattering, it was also getting kinda boring.

"Stevie Rae? Heath?" I called into the darkening forest, wondering around aimlessly.

"They aren't around here." Someone said, walking out from inbetween two ever-green trees.

If he had just turned up in my dreams like that a few months ago, I probably would have starting shrieking and crying my head off, but right then in that moment, I was more prepared than ever.

"Wondering when you would turn up." I told him, striding over to where he stood and scowling at his composed face.

"Wow! Didn't really register it on that one night in Italy, but your tattoos really have gone." He said, gently caressing over where my tattoos used to be on my face. I smartly stepped back out of his reach, rolling my eyes.

I never forgot for a second that my tattoos were gone. I was reminded everyday when new fledglings walked past me, staring like I was a freak. And I thought I was a freak _with_ my tattoos when I first got them.

The fledglings that had been there for a while were smart enough to know that it angered me.

"Yeah, they reaaaally are. How about you get over it?" I growled harshly, taking another step back away from him. He chuckled light-heartedly under his breath and walked over to where I stood with two quick strides.

"You're the same as ever, my darling." He whispered, lowering his head towards my chest and carefully kissing the joint from my neck to my shoulders. I stood still, frozen in time and thinking that even though I was engaged to Stark, he had yet to give me the feeling which the person stood in front of me could.

"I never stopped loving you, you know?" He mumbled against my skin, moving his lips slowly towards the top of my flattering dress. "And you know that this dress makes your body look _hot_."

"I know." I tried to say it bluntly but my voice wobbled as I spoke. I didn't know what to do. He took his lips from my chest to look at me straight in the eye.

"Forget about them; Stark, Heath, and the rest. It's just _you _and _me_ now." He said hypnotically, firmly pulling me against his chest. I suddenly felt the most drawn to him as I had ever felt to his beauty before, but not before I noticed a small figure move in the trees behind me.

Noticing it, I turned around, tearing my eyes away from his heart-breaking beauty. Just as I focused on the person who smiled crookedly at me, I felt a stab of desire burn throughout my body.

Hurriedly, I crashed my lips to his and wrapped my arms around his body.

My lips still entwined with his, he brought his nail all the way down the side of my dress, splitting it quickly. I was just thinking about jumped on top of him when a blinding light came from the sky. I looked up and noticed that it wasn't coming from the sky, but from my hand. Seeing the enticing ring hooked on my forth finger on my left hand, the desire I had felt for him dropped entirely.

Turning my head back down, I frowned when his lips met mine urgently. I tried to push him away, knowing that he knew that I wasn't feeling the same for him as he was for me, but he didn't care. Because no way would I be able to get out of his unbreakable grip; the grip that was imprisoning me forever...

I woke up next to Stark, blinking rapidly and feeling guiltier than ever.

I had just cheated on him.

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**A/N:** _So yeah, even though it's only re-editing, this is the first chapter I've done since I stopped writing for ages, so I hope you still like it my bbys.._

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_Favourite line? /lydia xox_


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